Chapter 19, Entering India (Part 1)
India, New Delhi, Indira Gandhi International Airport
The scorching sun baked the earth, and the heat on the ground was suffocating. The buildings in the distance glowed with dazzling white light under the scorching sun.
As soon as I walked out of the lobby of Indira Gandhi International Airport, I could immediately feel a scorching heat wave hitting my face.
"...This is really...hotter than an oven! The Paracel Islands in the South China Sea pale into insignificance compared with this!"
Reaching out to wipe the large drops of sweat that quickly oozed out from her forehead, looking up at the scorching sun above her head, the female doctor Marikawa Shizuka couldn't help but complain like this.
"...The highest temperature in New Delhi today is 41 degrees Celsius, but it is not even the hottest weather! I heard that the hottest temperature here can reach 50 degrees Celsius! And the humidity is also very high. It is really stuffy and hot, giving people the feeling It feels even more uncomfortable...I really don’t know how these Indians live in the summer.”
Wang Qiu also stuck out his tongue and said breathlessly, and as soon as he walked out of the door of the terminal, he anxiously got into the air-conditioned car. In such hot and scorching weather, people no longer sweat when walking in the sun. They will only feel burning pain on the skin because the sweat evaporates before it is secreted... And the former Paladin Levi is carrying a large The small baggage followed behind him with his face flushed from the heat.
——In order to avoid global panic and maintain the positive image of the country, the fact that the T virus, which can create biochemical crises, may have been brought into the real world by Indians is still strictly confidential. Even the Chinese Embassy in India Everyone was kept in the dark.
When notifying the embassy in India, Wang Qiu, Li Wei and Marikawa Shizuka were only visiting India on official business under the guise of "return visits after treatment." As a result, the embassy, who did not know what was going on, naturally treated them with very low standards. They only sent a semi-old Mazda car and a health specialist from the embassy to the airport, plus a local Indian driver hired by the embassy. , assigned to Wang Qiu and others for dispatch.
Such a "streamlined" team size naturally makes Wang Qiu, who has recently become accustomed to being surrounded by people, a little uncomfortable. However, Political Commissar Guo said that their business trip to India was not to collect intelligence, nor to do behind-the-scenes deals, nor to engage in assassinations or coups. They were simply to find the three "Indian friends" as quickly as possible for physical examinations. Just in case, a few people are enough.
Of course, they were not here for sightseeing this time, so as soon as they left the airport they went straight to their destination - the Shukla family's mansion in the capital.
As the face of a country's capital, Delhi's international airport is quite good. All facilities are very modern, and the decoration and furnishings are also very bright. There is an endless stream of business people and tourists from all over the world, speaking various languages and noisy everywhere. Advertising signs of the world's major well-known brands are hung, which is full of the atmosphere of modern society. The road just out of the airport is also pretty good, with beautiful greenery and occasional fountains and statues.
However, as the car gradually approaches the urban area, the glamorous and gorgeous appearance of the city begins to fade away, revealing all kinds of noise and mess... Looking from a distance, there are still many high-rise buildings, which looks a bit like a modern city. . But looking in front of me, it doesn't feel that good. There are slums next to the building. There are potholes and piles of garbage on the roadside. The green belt is full of dirty homeless people camping.
Well, no matter what kind of big city, apart from the magnificent buildings, there is always a bad side. Even the subway stations in New York are famous for being shabby and dirty! Alongside the remote streets of Beijing and Shanghai, there are also many illegal vendors and shacks.
(New York in the real world is not New York in the Marvel world. Every house has been demolished and rebuilt, and the results will always remain up-to-date.)
However, like New Delhi in India, there are countless cattle, sheep, horses and other animals running around on the streets at any time, strutting through the streets, competing with cars, scooters, three-wheeled motorcycles (tuk-tuks) and bicycles for lanes Yes, it is probably the only one among the capitals of major countries in the world... Moreover, the air pollution in urban New Delhi is extremely serious. Even on a sunny day, it is filled with smog. People riding scooters and motorcycles are wrapped in towels. Face. There were strings of people wearing sunglasses and masks everywhere, as if the streets were full of bank robbers this morning.
This scene initially shocked Wang Qiu: He did not misunderstand the people wearing masks as bank robbers, but thought that there was already an infectious disease in New Delhi - there was no way, the "SARS" flu back then The scene of raging across China is really still fresh in the memory of many people.
What's even more terrible is that the T virus in Resident Evil has symptoms similar to those of the flu in the initial stage of infecting the human body through airborne transmission...
At this moment, Wang Qiu almost had the urge to turn around and run away - no one wants to be in a zombie city!
Fortunately, the health attaché sent by the embassy to cooperate with the work, a middle-aged man named Bai Quanyi, answered his doubts in time.
"...Why is the weather so hot and there are so many people wearing masks on the streets? Of course it's because the air in the city is so bad! Indians themselves say that the air pollution in Delhi is so serious that it can reduce a person's health by ten years. Lifespan is more harmful than smoking!
Alas, those international news media criticize Beijing's severe smog all day long and believe that Chinese cities are unfit for human habitation, but few people know that the air pollution index in Delhi, India, has always been several times that of Beijing... But there is nothing that can be done , who calls India the largest democratic country in the world? Democracy and votes can replace fresh air! Under those fresh packaging, even the floating corpse water in the Ganges is fragrant..."
Health Commissioner Bai Quanyi curled her lips and said, "...I always felt that the air in Beijing was too bad in the past, but when I arrived in New Delhi, I realized that Beijing is simply a paradise..."
In this case, Wang Qiu reluctantly settled down and continued driving towards New Delhi's city.
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However, as the car got closer and closer to the city center, the speed became slower and slower. In the end, it was as slow as a snail. There were too many people on the road, and there were a lot of people who didn’t know about traffic. There are regular cattle and sheep, and the streets are full of three-wheeled motorcycles. Their appearance is similar to that of China's motorized tricycles from the 1990s. The outer shells are uniformly painted yellow. Based on the sound of its horn, the Indians vividly call this thing a "tuk-tuk". Even though it is just a three-wheeled motorcycle, Indians have the ability to drive this kind of junk car like a sports car. The Mazda car Wang Qiu and the others were actually passed by these three-wheeled "tuk-tuks" again and again, several times. The time just passed by.
In short, Wang Qiu and the others took a car from the airport for a full two hours, and their destination seemed far away.
Seeing the car driving so slowly, Bai Quanyi, the health specialist in the passenger seat, couldn't help but become impatient. He yelled a few words at the Indian driver next to him, which frightened the other person and shook his head to apologize - Indian nods and shakes are in line with international practice. Instead, shake your head in agreement.
Wang Qiu, who was sitting in the back seat, looked through the rearview mirror and noticed that the Indian driver hired by the Chinese Embassy was wearing a collarless, long-sleeved Indian-style dress on his upper body, and a pair of shabby bloomers that had not been washed clearly, with eye sockets. He was sunken, his skin was brown, and his body was thin. Through his thin clothes, he could still see the ribs that resembled those of a starving African. In short, with his complexion and physique, it is obvious at first glance that this young man’s caste level is worrying... Moreover, when he was driving before, he also looked very timid and always gave way to other cars. It made people think that he had just left the car. New to driving school.
However, after being scolded by Bai Quanyi, the health specialist, the young man's eyes suddenly turned red, as if he had activated the Berserker skill. Then he stepped on the accelerator, taking advantage of every opportunity, accelerating, decelerating, drifting... It turned into an instant... Akina mountain bike god! If there are a bunch of people and animals blocking the road ahead and refuse to move, and no one will give way no matter how hard they honk or shout, this guy will even roll down the window, pull out a long folding metal pole from nowhere, and then Hold the steering wheel with one hand and hold the pole with the other hand to call the pedestrians in front of you. As for the pedestrians, they immediately rubbed their arms and got out of the way, and no one looked coldly at the driver - if in China, if a driver dared to hit someone directly with a pole, he would probably have someone stop the car. It was revealed... It can be seen from this that Indians are really gentle in character and temper...
Of course, if it were a cow, the young man would have to stop and wait patiently, not daring to use a pole to poke it - Indian cows are not as good-tempered as Indians, and they can fight back without fighting back. Even if we ignore the Hindu belief in "sacred cows", he is a driver after all, not a bullfighter...
But even so, after continuing to move forward for about a quarter of an hour, Wang Qiu's Mazda still had to stop.
Because the road in front has been blocked tightly, and there is no room to squeeze in any holes.
All kinds of cars, big and small, are piled up here in a mess, with their horns beeping one after another, making people dizzy, and the steaming exhaust has accumulated into a diffuse toxic smoke, even if it has been filtered by the car air conditioner. , it still makes people feel uncomfortable breathing.
And in the distance at the end of the street, there was a faint shout from a loudspeaker, and then there were bursts of loud singing... After waiting for ten minutes, there was still no sign of the traffic starting to squirm, and I was impatient to wait. The young driver volunteered to get out of the car to find out the news. After another ten minutes, he came back dirty. Panting with lingering fear, he took out a colorful leaflet.
Health Commissioner Bai Quanyi took the flyer and studied it for a while, then turned around and explained to Wang Qiu and others with a wry smile, "...Today is really unlucky...A group of Indians held a demonstration in front to protest against the consumption of onions and potatoes. The price rise has blocked several roads! ”
"...Um...how long will this road be blocked?" Wang Qiu asked, "...The Indian government should send military police to clear the area!" "...God knows, you know, Indians are slow no matter what they do. Damn it, if there are more opposition politicians coming forward to fan the flames, it would be normal to be blocked for a week..." Bai Quanyi shrugged, "...it seems like we have to take a detour..."